Cleaning machine



Jan. 5, 1943. R. E. BAssET'r, JR 2,307,254

CLEANING- MACHINE Fled Jan. 27. 1939 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEY.

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Patented Jan. 5, 1943 CLEANING MACHINE Rex Earl Bassett, Jr., South Bend, Ind., assignor, by mesne assignments, to American Machine and Metals, Inc., East Moline, Ill., a corporation of Delaware Application January 27, 1939, Serial No. 253,087

4 Claims.

air-circulating means arranged to guard against the escape of toxic vapors during washing and which is arranged to aerate the clothes after drying, and to provide a simple circulating system for the washing medium which is simple and effective and which has relatively few moving mechanical parts.

Preferably the two speeds are secured by using two different motors, adapted to drive the machine respectively at a low washing speed or at a much higher extracting speed. Since no particular harm is done by permitting the low-speed motor to drive the high-speed motor idly when it is (ie-energized, I prefer to connect the lowspeed motor to the clothes drum of the machine through a one-way clutch or the like which overruns when the high-speed motor picks up the load.

The other objects set forth above are attained by construction and arrangements described below and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a dry cleaning machine embodying the invention;

Figure 2 is a vertical section transversely through the machine;

Figure 3 is a partial section in a horizontal plane showing the two motors and their driving connections;

Figure 4 is a section on the line 4 4 of Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a wiring diagram; and

Figure 6 is a cycle diagram.

The illustrated machine is intended for dry cleaning clothes and the like, but various novel features are useful in washing machines of other types. The particular machine shown in the drawings includes a cylindrical tub I0 arranged on a horizontal axis and supported on a framework I2 inside a suitable cabinet I4. The tub has a loading opening in its front wall, for which a suitable swinging glazed door or other closure I6 is provided. 'I'he cabinet I4 may have other doors I8 to afford convenient access to the mechanism described below.

. Inside the tub I0 is a perforated clothes drum 20, formed with ribs or baliles 22 in its peripheral wall, This drum is driven selectively either at a low speed for washing and distributing, or at a high speed for drying by centrifugal extraction, by means such as a. belt or belts 24 driving a large pulley 26 on the shaft which supports the drum 2li, and which belt is driven by a smaller pulley 26.

The pulley 26 (see Figure 3) is secured to the end of a shaft 28 rotatably mounted in bearings 30 in the side Walls of asectional gear casing 32. The shaft 28 is positively connected by means such as a coupling 34 with the armature shaft of a high-speed motor 36. The part of the shaft 28 within the casing 32 carries a. large gear 38 provided with a one-way roller clutch 40 by which it drives the shaft at low speed when the motor 36 is deenergized.

When motor 36 is energized the clutch 40 overruns. The gear 38 meshes with a drive pinion 42 on a shaft 44 rotatably journaled vin bearings 46 and provided with a-pulley 48 connected by a belt 50 with a drive pulley 52 on the armature shaft of a low-speed motor 54. While motors 36' and 54 are for convenience designated the high speed" and low-speed motors, it will be appreciated that the exact relative speeds of these motors depend on the reduction in speed in the connections between the pulley 62 and the shaft 28.

A washing medium such as carbon tetrachloride is provided in a supply reservoir 56 and a circulating reservoir 58, the latter having an outlet conduit 6I) leading to the intake of a pump 62 driven by a pump motor 64. 'I'he supply reservoir is connected to the conduit 60 by a pipe 66 controlled by a manually operable valve 68, and may have a glass 'I0 to show the level of the washing medium therein.

The vpump 62 circulates the washing medium through a conduit 'I2 to a filter 14 which has an outlet conduit I6 opening into the side wall of the tub I0 approximately half-way of the height of the tub. The tub I0 has a drain opening 'I8 communicating with a passage provided with two outlets The outlet used during the washing operation is a standpipe 82 of a height which gives an optimum depth of the washing medium in the tub I6 during the Washing operation.

During this operation a sum-p 84 at the bottom of the passage 80 is closed by a diaphragm valve 86 of rubber material, which at this time is held against its seat by the pressure of the liquid in the conduit 12, which communicates its pressure to the diaphragm 86 by a small side conduit 88. Both the sump 84 and the standpipe 82 empty into a conduit 90 leading to a lint trap 92 emptying at its bottom into the conduit 60. 'Ihe filter 'I6 may be connected by a small pipe 94 to a pressure gage 96.

'I'here is also a motor 98 driving a fan or blower I00 which takes in air from the interior of the cabinet I4 and forces it upwardly through a relatively large air conduit |02. The upper end of the conduit I 82 is controlled by a valve or damper |06, and during the washing operation, with this air valve in full-line position (Figure 2) it communicates with an outlet pipe |08 'which preferably empties outside the building in which the machine is installed. When, near the end of the cycle of the machine, the air valve |06 is turned to dotted-line position, the air is diverted from conduit |02 into the passage 00, upwardly through the drain opening 18 and through the clothes in the rotor 20 to aerate and de-odorize them, and thence out through an opening to theA exhaust pipe |08. I

The air valve |06 is mounted on a shaft ||2 which is urged by a spiral spring ||4 (Figure 5) toward the position where the valve damper |06 is in dotted line position in Figure 2. The shaft ||2 is provided, at the rear of the machine, with a handle H6 by which it may be turned manually, at the beginning of the cycle, to its other (fullline) position, where it is retained by a springpressed latch ||8 engaging a shoulder on a cam disk mounted on the shaft ||2.

The machine is controlled automatically to operate in a predetermined cycle, as for example the cycle diagrammed in Figure 6, by a multiple cyclic switch including a constant-speed motor |22 driving, through reduction gearing |24 and a ratchet or one-way clutch |26, a shaft |28 carrying cams |30 and provided at its end with an indicator handle |32 which passes over a suitable dial |34 to indicate the course of the cycle. The one- Way connection |26 permits the handle |32 to be advanced, to shorten one or more of the steps of the cycle when desired.

The cams |30 operate spring switch contacts |34, |36, |38, |40, and |42, connected to various circuits described below and which lead from a line |44, to cause these contacts to eng-age and disengage a contact bar |46 connected by a wire |48 .to the other line |50. Lines |44 and |50 are brought in through a suitable fuse and relay box |52 (Figure 2).

The contact |34 controls parallel circuits |54 and |56 through the motors 54 and |22. The contact |36 controls a circuit |58 through the high-speed motor 36. The contact |38 controls a circuit |60 through the pump motor 64. The

contact |40 controls a circuit |62 through a solenoid or magnet |64 which, when energized, pulls up the latch ||8 to release the shaft ||2 so.that it is turned by its spring ||4. The contact |42 controls a circuit |66 through the fan motor 00.

There is also a parallel circuit |68 for the fan l motor, which by-passes the contact |42, and which includes a spring contact |10 which tends to open, but which is forced to closed position during the washing operation by a cam |12 on the disk |20. Since the handle ||6 is turned to cause the latch ||8 to engage, before the cycle of operations is started, this causes the fan |00 to establish a slight sub-atmospheric pressure in the cabinet |4 before the circulation of the washing medium starts. When the latch ||8 is released, the contact |42 has been closed, so the fan runs continuously throughout the cycle of the machine as well as after handle ||6 is turned, to insure that at no time can vapors of carbon tetrachloride escape into the room.

One desirable cycle of operations is shown in Figure 6. The clothes having been placed in the 'drum 20, the door I6 closed, and the handle ||6 turned to cause the latch H8 to engage and the fan motor to start, the handle |32 is advanced to start the automatic cycle of the machine. The drum 20 is now driven continuously forward at a relatively slow washing speed. For a drum twenty inches in diameter this is preferably about 59 or 60 revolutions per minute, and in general (as explained in application No. 129,429 filed March 6, 1937, by myself jointly with John W. Chamber- 1in and now matured into Patent No. 2,165,884) the washing speed should be in the range, in revolutions per minute, between 2500 drum radius in feet M drum radius in feet At the end of the washing period, the pump motor 64 stops, the pressure in conduit 12 drops, and the diaphragm valve 86 opens to dump the charge of washing medium from the tub I0. The drum is next driven at high speed to extract most of the washing medium and drain it back into the reservoir 58, although in some cases it may be desirable to interpose a distributing step as exined in the above-identified Patent'No. 2,165,-

The solenoid |64 is next energized to open the circuit |68 and turn the damper valve |06 to cause the air to circulate through the clothes in the drum to aerate and deodorize them, and finally all the circuits open automatically and the machine stops.

-While one illustrative embodiment has been described in detail, it is not my intention to limit the scope of the invention to that particular embodiment, or otherwise than by the terms of the appended claims.

Iclaim:

1. A cleaning machine comprising a cabinet, a tub in the cabinet having a drum mounted for rotation therein, an air-circulating device having an air intake opening, a four-way air valve for connecting the air-circulating device selectively either to conduct air from inside the cabinet and outside of said tub through said air-circulating device to the space outside of the cabinet or to conduct air from said air-circulating device through the interior of said tub to the space outside of the cabinet.

2. A cleaning machine comprising a cabinet, a

and about .tub in the cabinet having a drum` mounted for rotation therein, an air-circulating device having its inlet opening connected with the inside ot the cabinet outside of said tub, an outlet pipe to the space outside of the cabinet, means for connecting the discharge of said air-circulating device selectively either to said outlet pipe or through the interior of said tub to said outlet pipe.

3. A cleaning machine comprising a cabinet, a tub in the cabinet having a drum mounted for rotation therein, an air-circulating device having an intake opening within the cabinet, an outlet pipe to the space outside of the cabinet, a fourway air valve for connecting the discharge of said air-circulating device selectively either directly to said outlet pipe or to the interior of said tub and thence to said outlet pipe.

4. A cleaning machine having a cabinet and a tub therein, means in the tube to clean material therein, air-circulating means having a device shiftable either to connect the interior of the cabinet directly to an exhaust or to connect it to the exhaust through said tub, a spring for shifting said device from the ilrst position to the second, a latch for holding the device in the iirstv i118 Said latch. 

